From the Pages of Past: Honda Concerto

With a handful of options sold by Suzuki, Toyota and Honda in Pakistan, the generation of today can’t even imagine the available choices we used to have, prior to the 90s. Thanks to the used JDM imports, for whatever variety that exist in the market today. Just imagine how would it look like if there were no JDMs around?

Those of us, who were raised in the 80s, have witnessed the wide range of choices for a car buyer back then, which were nearly five times as much compared to what’s available now. Among many wonderful cars available during that era, was the Honda Concerto.

Based on the 4th generation EF Civic platform, the Concerto was launched in 1988 and was aimed at a more prestigious section of the market & offered more features than the Civic. The Concerto came equipped with power steering and power windows as standard.

Compared to the Civic it had a very luxurious interior with wooden accents and had an ambient cabin thanks to additional rear quarter glass. The Concerto was also available with an SOHC 1.6 liter dual carburetor engine mated to 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic gearbox.

The Concerto was co-developed by Honda and Austin Rover Group, and was available till 1994 before Austin Rover was taken over by BMW. However it was already discontinued in our market by 1992 when imports were tightened to get the local industry on its feet.

Concerto wasn’t a hot seller in Pakistan, but was a regular sight on roads and sold in decent numbers. There are quite a few Concertos still running on our roads but sadly most of them are poorly maintained.

The auto policy has opened up doors for new comers and more auto makers are expected to step up in the market. Perhaps in future we might be able to see more car buying options such as we used to have during the 1980s.

Facebook Comments

Related

A car enthusiast associated with the 3D Animation industry of Pakistan since year 2000 having worked with leading organizations and production facilities across Pakistan. Passionate about cars ever since, and a strong desire to see the automobile industry of Pakistan flourish in true means, Usman Ansari has a vast experience of writing for major automobile portals of the country. Drives a Honda City SX8 as a daily runner, as well as an 11th generation Toyota Corolla Altis 1.6 on occasions. CarSpiritPK.com was initiated by Usman Ansari in May 2016.